FSX Ran out of avalaible memory ERROR!!

Hey guys, from time to time I keep getting a message that my computer ran out of available memory while running FSX,

The setting are at medium and I'm guessing my computer could take a bit of load. Just wondering if there is any upgrade I could do to my hardware that will help run higher settings or is this as good as it gets for now?. Thanks in Advance

 

Specs:

 

Windows 7-64bit

Intel i5-4690@ 3.50

8gb Ram

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

There is no way you should run out of ram unless your using high end textures and running the game at max settings at 4k resolutuons.

 

I would strongly suggest you use the FSX tweak site to setup your FSX config file with the memory tweaks required for it to use all the available ram.

FSX can only use a max of 4GB of address space, provided you have FSX SP2 or Acceleration installed, even on 64 bit systems. Also, this error message is somewhat misleading. If the settings are high enough with some of the more demanding add-ons, it is very possible to run out of this address space. It is also possible for a corrupted add-on installation to cause these errors. More details on what was happening leading up to the error message would help narrow it down.

Hey guys, from time to time I keep getting a message that my computer ran out of available memory while running FSX,

The setting are at medium and I'm guessing my computer could take a bit of load. Just wondering if there is any upgrade I could do to my hardware that will help run higher settings or is this as good as it gets for now?. Thanks in Advance

 

Specs:

 

Windows 7-64bit

Intel i5-4690@ 3.50

8gb Ram

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

 

Hi, what addons are you using? Running out of memory is a very common occurrence in FSX nowadays. As loki wrote, FSX can only make use of 4 GByte of RAM, and every addon DLL running inside the sim, every texture upgrade with high resolution, every plane with numerous clickspots in the VC will eat some of it. Using the right addons and settings you can have an OOM (out of memory 'crash') even when sitting still at the airport gate. Google a bit about FSX and OOM...

 

Usually using a high LOD setting, high resolution textures for clouds, lots of autogen, photo scenery and PMDG aircraft, plus high texture resolution settings (4096) will get you there pretty quickly.

Hi, what addons are you using? Running out of memory is a very common occurrence in FSX nowadays. As loki wrote, FSX can only make use of 4 GByte of RAM, and every addon DLL running inside the sim, every texture upgrade with high resolution, every plane with numerous clickspots in the VC will eat some of it. Using the right addons and settings you can have an OOM (out of memory 'crash') even when sitting still at the airport gate. Google a bit about FSX and OOM...

 

Usually using a high LOD setting, high resolution textures for clouds, lots of autogen, photo scenery and PMDG aircraft, plus high texture resolution settings (4096) will get you there pretty quickly.

 

Thanks for the reply,

 

@CptCaveman, are you talking about the bojotes tweaking site?

 

@loki, I was reading about the maximum 4gb space allow which I think is absurd when some rigs carry up to 32gb ram. I did have quite a few addons such as multiple airports, and multiple complete regions. Might be a corrupted add on as you said, so I tried removing all the add on scenery but still get the OOM message. Possibly a fresh install with no add ons will be my best bet??

 

@nuitkati, ftx Global Vector, few aircrafts, Miami Region. Fort Myers reagion, San Juan Airport, among other addons. Are all this add ons just hurting my available space. All I really want is some decent scenery and smooth gameplay.

@loki, I was reading about the maximum 4gb space allow which I think is absurd when some rigs carry up to 32gb ram. I did have quite a few addons such as multiple airports, and multiple complete regions. Might be a corrupted add on as you said, so I tried removing all the add on scenery but still get the OOM message. Possibly a fresh install with no add ons will be my best bet??

 

It's a fundamental limit with 32 bit applications and there isn't much that anyone can about it directly. Don't forget we're talking about an almost ten year old program here. When FSX came out, 4GB was a lot of memory, and 8GB was expensive. For FSX to access more address space (note that Windows applications do not access RAM directly), it would need to be converted to a 64 bit application. This is something only the developer can do, and will never happen as Microsoft dropped the development of FSX years ago. Perhaps if they had continued development of the Flight Simulator series we would have had a 64 bit version by now. As it currently stands, to get a 64 bit sim, one needs to look at X-Plane, and possibly the next major version of P3D.

 

A clean install and then re-installing and testing each add-on one at a time would be the most thorough way to see where the problem is coming from. Make sure to test the sim first without any add-ons too. Same goes for the many "tweaks" out there. Most don't really do anything, and the rest depend a lot on how you use the sim.

Avoid using any tweak add-on software at all, they create more problems than they do anything to improve anything. Make sure you don't have anything running in the background when you are using FSX. Does your out of message error happen randomly or in areas that are graphically demanding?. What's the specs on your RAM 1600mhz 1333mhz etc. Its a unusual problem to have and by doing a reinstall with a systematic test after each add-on may make you find the problem software.

Does your rig give you the same error on any other software where you are pushing it. Perhaps a stress test might be in order to make sure its not a failing hardware issue.

This is the best explanation of the OOM problem that I've found: http://support.precisionmanuals.com/kb/a108/vas-management-stopping-out-of-memory-oom-errors.aspx .

 

Doug

This is the best explanation of the OOM problem that I've found: http://support.precisionmanuals.com/kb/a108/vas-management-stopping-out-of-memory-oom-errors.aspx .

 

Doug

 

Yep, that is one of the best explanations of this error and how it relates to FSX.

Yep, that is one of the best explanations of this error and how it relates to FSX.

 

+1! It also explains why I have fewer OOM errors than many. Being an old chopper guy, I love to STOL. So I only have a couple of fancy planes which I almost never use. I use the default planes and ultra high levels of scenery. Staying close to the ground, scenery matters more to me than A/C complexity.

 

Apparently we can fly over great scenery or use great aircraft with FSX. But it's tough to do both at the same time!

This is the best explanation of the OOM problem that I've found: http://support.precisionmanuals.com/kb/a108/vas-management-stopping-out-of-memory-oom-errors.aspx

 

However I disagree with the section about Large amounts of photoscenery areas.

I use UK VFR Photographic Scenery (GenerationX). Each of the 3 volumes consists of about 30 GB - that's about 90 GB on disk. As an example, With the default C172, VMMAP shows the amount of VAS used is about 1.04GB, with still 3.11 GB free. Photographic scenery does not need to have particularly high source of VAS usage

Hi damizz6,

I don't really remember where I read this but, switching to DirectX 10 (DX10) preview mode "may" help a bit with OOM's. Ever since I made the switch, I have not experienced OOM's and FSX sure "feels" a lot smoother. I also do not monitor my VAS use, so I could be talking outta my butt. As always, YMMV.

But, the caveat to the switch is that DX10 brings with it a whole 'nother can o' worms and is not for everybody. It's called a "preview" for a reason - as in, it's half-baked...

Either way, with FSX, there's no getting past that dang 4gb VAS limit.

 

Good luck,

 

E-Buzz :pilot:

However I disagree with the section about Large amounts of photoscenery areas.

I use UK VFR Photographic Scenery (GenerationX). Each of the 3 volumes consists of about 30 GB - that's about 90 GB on disk. As an example, With the default C172, VMMAP shows the amount of VAS used is about 1.04GB, with still 3.11 GB free. Photographic scenery does not need to have particularly high source of VAS usage

 

Hi, you will get into trouble, when you have more that one region in photorealistc textures. FSX loads all the regions at the same time, no matter where they are on the globe. But on the other hand, most photoscenery has no autogen, that is why you see an improvement. I suggest giving Revolution X ( the tree update) a try...

 

What you need to do with photoscen is, that you deactivate every region you are not flying in. In fact, I use a tool for this, so that unwanted scenery is not merely deactivated, it is not even present in my scenery.cfg. I find this helps a lot against OOM.

However I disagree with the section about Large amounts of photoscenery areas.

I use UK VFR Photographic Scenery (GenerationX). Each of the 3 volumes consists of about 30 GB - that's about 90 GB on disk. As an example, With the default C172, VMMAP shows the amount of VAS used is about 1.04GB, with still 3.11 GB free. Photographic scenery does not need to have particularly high source of VAS usage

 

Hi, you will get into trouble, when you have multiple regions in photorealistc textures. The general consensus is, that FSX loads all the photoscen at the same time, no matter where they are on the globe (not the whole scenery of course, but a handle to all the things photo). But on the other hand, most photoscenery has no autogen, that is why you see an improvement in VAS. I suggest giving Revolution X ( the tree extension) a try...

 

What you need to do with photoscen is, that you deactivate every region you are not flying in. In fact, I use a tool for this, so that unwanted scenery is not merely deactivated, it is not even present in my scenery.cfg. I find this helps a lot against OOM.

 

I have the Horizon stuff too, plus most of the rest of Europe (MegaSceneryEarth, NL2000, VFR Germany and FranceVFR. All very nice - but not at the same time.

 

BTW, DX10 works fine if you use Steves DX10 Fixer (payware). I seldom have OOMs, but I can provoke them easily (photoscenery plus one of these NightEnvironment addons, plus PMDG 737 in HD texturing plus Rex4 plus soft clouds plus UT2, all of this with textures set globally at 4096. Do not laugh - this actually is my normal sim setup. It does only crash though, if I provoke it - so my setup procedure is quite extensive (using Simstarter and some DIY tools to reduce the sim to only what is needed for the flight)

Hi, you will get into trouble, when you have multiple regions in photorealistc textures. The general consensus is, that FSX loads all the photoscen at the same time, no matter where they are on the globe...

 

Then the consus is wrong. One region of UK VFR Photographic Scenery (GenerationX) occupies 30 GB on disk. How that is scenery going to be loaded in 4GB VAS (or even the typical 8GB of RAM.) Think about it - where's it going to be loaded?

Then the consus is wrong. One region of UK VFR Photographic Scenery (GenerationX) occupies 30 GB on disk. How that is scenery going to be loaded in 4GB VAS (or even the typical 8GB of RAM.) Think about it - where's it going to be loaded?

 

As I wrote, I can only imagine it is not the scenery itself but unneeded handles to it. Google a bit about that, you will find references to this problem, and better explanations too. Like this one:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/466234-photo-scenery-vas-and-the-avsim-guide/

 

What I do know is, that when all my photosceneries are active, OOM is certain. That is why I don't do that.

As I wrote, I find it hard to believe myself, I can only imagine it is not the scenery itself but unneeded handles to it.

 

The handles are still within VAS - there's no where else to put them..

The handles are still within VAS - there's no where else to put them..

 

Sure. The critique about this is, why load all the handles everywhere, even when you are nowhere near the region.

 

Edit: thinking about this, there is nothing to critisize at all, this is just how it works! FSX was written in an object orientated language - C++ right? So every 'thing' the program needs to know about at runtime is an object of a certain size in the memory.

 

Best example are autogen or scenery objects - you can see how they consume memory by their mere existence. There even seems to be a bug in there, FSX has problems with garbage collection (getting rid of objects you don't need anymore). At least LM and DT both claim that they fixed something like this (AFAIK).

 

Now. FSX obviously keeps a lookup table of all scenery files in the memory, their geographical position and layer order - and probably some kind of cache of their contents and handle to the opened file. It would be way to slow if FSX would parse the scenery.cfg every milisecond to determine if you strayed into one of the bgl's. So, more scenery means larger lookup table, means more of the precious memory eaten up. It could be, that the photo scenerie's objects really are larger than the others - or it could be, that the effect people claim to see would happen anyway, with every type of scenery. But the best strategy against OOM stands anyway: don't put in your sim what you do not need for your flight.